Mayfield riding out roller-coaster Winston Cup season

After two wins, two fines and two last-lap dramas, Jeremy Mayfield stays on an even keel.

By KEVIN KELLY

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 4, 2000

INDIANAPOLIS -- He has been penalized by NASCAR, won a week after the infraction, beaten seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt on the last lap at Pocono Raceway and lost a victory at the same track because of a flat tire on the last lap.

Jeremy Mayfield's emotions are numb.

"I'm thoroughly used to it," he said. "When it happens to you enough, you just get to where you take it as it comes."

Mayfield, driver of the No. 12 Ford, will start fourth in the Brickyard 400 on Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It is the Winston Cup series' first race since the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway and 20th in a turbulent season for Mayfield.

"I'm kind of glad to be back, you know?" he said. "It seems like when you break the routine up it's almost worse to have an off weekend."

Though he kept himself busy during the week off (he competed in an exhibition race with Darrell Waltrip in Owensboro, Ky., one of the days), Mayfield couldn't help but think about the Pennsylvania 500 a few times.

Mayfield, 31, was leading the race as he entered the second turn on the last lap. In an instant, however, his right front tire shredded and Penske teammate Rusty Wallace passed by to win the race.

Mayfield drifted to 10th place.

"The good thing about all that, it could've been worse," he said. "We could've done it with 10 laps to go or something and got into the wall and finished 30th. At least we still came out with a top 10."

Crew chief Peter Sospenzo added: "At least everybody knows that we had a car that was capable of winning. If something does go wrong like that, out of your control, then you've kind of just got to brush it aside. We couldn't help it but at least we were in front when it happened. You have to look at the positives."

The loss was the extreme opposite of what happened in the Pocono 500 on June19 at the same track.

Mayfield trailed Earnhardt going into the third turn on the last lap. He pulled close enough behind Earnhardt to make the rear of the No. 3 Chevrolet wiggle.

With Earnhardt out of the racing groove, Mayfield passed on the inside for his second win of the season.

"Any time you get a chance to race him in a situation like we were," Sospenzo said, "that's a feeling of pride."

The Pocono races typify Mayfield's season.

"This whole year has been a roller-coaster ride," Sospenzo said. "The Cyclone roller coaster, that's what we've been. It's either all the way at the top or all the way at the bottom."

At the DieHard 500 in April at Talladega Superspeedway, one of Mayfield's crewmen poured an illegal fuel additive into the car's gas during the race.

As NASCAR investigated and Mayfield sought to prove he didn't need to cheat to win, he went out in the next race -- the Napa Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway -- and won but was penalized again for a roof-height violation.

"That was a lot of mental stress on everybody in the week leading up to that race (at California)," Sospenzo said. "That race was good from an emotional standpoint. We had been to hell and back but we still stayed strong and focused enough to come out on top."

NASCAR penalized Mayfield for the Talladega violation by deducting 151 driver points, suspending Sospenzo for a month and fining co-owner Michael Kranefuss $50,000. Sospenzo was fined $25,000 for the roof violation. If not for the deducted points, Mayfield would be 13th in points rather than 15th. "What keeps us going is the way our team is performing right now," said Mayfield, who has nine top-10 finishes and one pole position. "We're there. Week in and week out, running good, up front. I've had a chance to win a lot of races this year. We've got that where I want to be. We just keep looking forward."

With any hope of a championship gone, the team's preseason goals have been amended -- reaching the top 10 in the standings and learning as much as possible to apply toward a championship run next season.

"We know we've got no chance this year," Sospenzo said. "We know we can learn enough hopefully through the rest of the year and maybe get some things in place to make a good run for it next year."

Mayfield thinks he has been poised to make a run at a first championship for the last two seasons.

In 1998, Mayfield won his first career race (at Pocono) and finished seventh in the standings with 16 top-10 finishes. He didn't win a race last season but had 11 top 10s and wound up 11th in points.

"It's a good feeling," Mayfield said. "We feel like we're definitely there. Now, it's just a matter of executing the plan. That's a good feeling knowing we've got a great race team like that where we can run up front and have the opportunity to win races week in and week out."

On Saturday, Mayfield will try for his second top-five finish in the Brickyard 400 and claim a win that was lost two weeks ago.

"I've always done good here," he said. "In 1998, I had a chance to win and I had a little problem, got in the wall and still ran well. We're excited about it. In fact, we're bringing the same car we had at Pocono."

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